PHOTOS: Christian Missionary Family Shot Down During C.I.A. Anti-Drug Operation

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

A photo of Christian missionaries Roni and Jim Bowers and their children, Cory and Charity, taken just a few weeks before their small plane was shot down over the Amazon River in Peru in April 2001. The CIA operated a joint anti-narcotics program with the Peruvian government that called for shooting down suspected drug-trafficking planes. The program operated from 1995 until the Bowers tragedy six years later.

Courtesy Luttig Family

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

A photo of Christian missionaries Roni and Jim Bowers and their children, Cory and Charity, taken just a few weeks before their small plane was shot down over the Amazon River in Peru in April 2001. The CIA operated a joint anti-narcotics program with the Peruvian government that called for shooting down suspected drug-trafficking planes. The program operated from 1995 until the Bowers tragedy six years later.

Courtesy Luttig Family

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

Roni Bowers with Charity, 7 months old, and Cory, 6 years old, on their houseboat, the El Camino, on the Amazon River in Peru. The Bowers family lived aboard the El Camino from 1997 to 2001.

Courtesy Luttig Family

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

The Bowers family at their mission near Iquitos, Peru. The Bowers lived in Peru as missionaries when their plane was shot down over the Amazon River. The entire Bowers family, plus a pilot, was flying back from a U.S. embassy visit when they were attacked by a Peruvian Air Force A-37 fighter jet. The pilot of the jet believed he was firing on drug traffickers. Jim Bowers, son Cory, and their pilot survived. Roni Bowers and daughter Charity were killed.

Courtesy Luttig Family

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

Roni, 20, and Jim Bowers, 22, on their wedding day in November 1985.

Courtesy Luttig Family

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

Above: Jim and Roni Bowers at a rally for presidential candidate George W. Bush in 2000. Below: Roni and Jim Bowers graduating from Piedmont Bible College in North Carolina in 1993.

Courtesy Luttig Family

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

Above: The Bowers at their Iquitos, Peru, mission in 2001. Below: On the El Camino, the Bowers family home -- a houseboat on the Amazon -- near Iquitos, Peru.

Courtesy Luttig Family

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

Above: Jim Bowers with a member of his congregation in Peru. Below: The Bowers family with members of their congregation crossing the Amazon.

Courtesy Luttig Family

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

Jim and Roni Bowers standing along the banks of the Amazon with their congregation with their houseboat, the El Camino, in the background. Volunteers at a Michigan church constructed the houseboat in a barn and then shipped it south in sections.

Courtesy Luttig Family

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

Above: The El Camino docked along the Amazon in Iquitos, Peru. Below: Jim Bowers crossing the Amazon in a boat.

Courtesy Luttig Family

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

Jim, Charity and Cory Bowers, a month before their plane was shot down over the Amazon in Peru.

Courtesy Luttig Family

Christian missionaries shot down in Peru during C.I.A. anti-narcotics operation

Various Bowers family photos taken just a few weeks before Roni and Charity were killed.